Archive for the 'Leadership' Category
Trusting God’s Providence
Providence is God’s guidance and protection in our lives. Pastor, I know we teach about God’s providence to His people regularly. We counsel people with a deep belief and conviction about God’s guidance and protection through life. Yet, when it comes to our own lives and ministries, do we believe it with the same level of conviction and operate our lives accordingly?
A Great Lesson I Have Learned About God’s Providence
I have often struggled with understanding many things in my own life and ministry. I have wondered why certain doors have closed when I thought their opening would be the will of God. Conversely, I have often been overwhelmed with God’s gracious blessing of opening doors for me that I know I do not deserve. After all these years it is still hard to write them in confession to you: but I understand that God knows what is best for me, even when I do not know what is best for myself. He protects me from things I may want or believe, when in reality, they are not best for me.
Trusting God’s Sovereign Will
The Lord is always working around us. He desires to work through us. People, places, provisions, and experiences are all under His guidance and care. When He desires to intersect them into your life, you will see His sovereign will fulfilled. Therefore, by faith we must be about trusting God’s sovereign will. We want to join Him in all He is doing. As He invites us to join Him, trust Him. He is worthy to be trusted.
Therefore pastor friend, how do we trust the providence of God in ministry?
1. Trust in His providence even when things are not going well.
Ministry is not an easy calling or job. Most pastors I know are under the scrutiny of people continually. They are weary from constant criticism and cutting cynicism. Many wonder if their future is in jeopardy. Often times they live on the edge from one month to the next, hoping and praying for revival or deliverance!
Pastor, God has not forgotten you. He is with you. He wants to teach you.
I will never forget one of the most challenging times I ever faced in ministry. Through that experience, God showed me that He had me in that particular place in life to teach me. He had me there more for me than for the church! This overwhelmed me with conviction from the Spirit of God. I learned through that experience, and many times since, that He guides, protects, and provides even when things are not going well. Trust in God’s sovereign will for your life.
2. Trust in His providence even when you do not want to.
So many times in life, we want to take our life and ministry into our own hands. We want to manipulate the circumstances or spin our own reality. If we want to be honest with one another, there are times when we struggle with anger about what we are experiencing and even with where we may be serving. In the ministry, jealousy can override our judgment at times because others are receiving recognition we believe we are more worthy of receiving. In reality, all may line up on our sheet of unfairness.
Yet, we must trust in God’s sovereign will. At times, trusting Him and His will may be far more difficult than trying to take matters into our own hands. Trusting God in ministry involves surrendering our entire life and future to Him! We have to take our hands off of our own future, leaving all of our future in His hands. Pastor, trust in God’s sovereign will for your life.
3. Trust in His providence for your future.
Pastor, trust in God’s providence for your future in life and ministry. He knows what is best for you even when you do not. He is more involved with you personally than you realize. He is moving in the world of today in order to prepare you for the world of tomorrow.
I believe God has big plans for your life and future. No, you may not see it right now, but He is preparing you for them. Do not try to dumb-down God into your perspective of the world. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows every gift in your life that He Himself gifted you with. At the right time, He will raise you up and trust you with your future. Pastor, practice what you teach and preach.
It all begins with:
- Being available to God without placing any restrictions on your life
- Surrendering yourself and all you are to Him, holding nothing back
- Trusting in God’s sovereign, providential will for your life and ministry
Trust God’s providential guidance and care for your life and ministry.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
It’s Time for Pastors to Lead a National Conversation on Racial Unity By Jerry Young and Ronnie Floyd
Ronald Reagan once said that “all great change in America begins at the dinner table,” and we agree. But, as ministers, we also believe that great change can’t happen unless someone sets the table for tough conversations. That’s where the pulpit comes in.
Recent events have poured salt in our deepest national wound: the injustice of racism. You can’t turn on the news today without hearing about another incident of racial tension: a shooting here, an aggression there.
But, it’s the incidents that don’t make the news that trouble us, too: the passed-over promotion, the crude comment, the suspicious stare…
We lead two of the nation’s largest Protestant denominations, each with their own complicated pasts and experiences with this issue, and we see the adverse effects of racism in our respective churches every day.
Racism is all around us. You might even say it’s in our national “DNA,” because in a way, it is—sin is in our DNA, at the heart of the human condition. Prejudice against our fellow man is one particularly visible and egregious example of this.
Because the Bible teaches that all men and women are created equal, we know that the sin of racism is not simply a violation against one but a crime against humanity. Racism creates between us a false division; it fosters the illusion that those of different ethnicities, who share the divine imprint, are instead our enemies. It is a sin founded upon fear and ignorance—a perpetuation of the lie that only some are made in God’s image, and the rest are disposable.
As religious leaders charged with shepherding the faithful, we are resolved to address this tragedy together. Now, as ever, pastors across America must stand before their congregations and call racism for what it is: ugly, unwarranted, and un-Christian in all its forms.
Last week in Jackson, Mississippi, we did just that. Each of us invited ten pastors from our respective denominations to gather for a summit we described as “A National Conversation on Racial Unity.”
We trust that when people of faith come together in peace, compassion and humility, seeking nothing but truth and freedom, the scene is set for dialogue. Not political dialogue, mind you, nor an argument, thread of Facebook comments, or even a sermon, but rather an authentic exchange of perspectives and a genuine petition for our nation. It is in the same spirit as that modeled by Martin Luther King, Jr. in his famous letter to the clergy of Birmingham, Alabama: “since I feel that you are good men of genuine good will,” he wrote, “I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” With Christ as our guide, patience and reason will overcome temptations toward anger and fear.
Twenty-two pastors engaged in dialogue, on one day, for a few hours, may not sound like much, but it’s a start. Even William Wilberforce, the great abolitionist and himself a devout Christian, led the charge to outlaw the British slave trade with a committee of even fewer men.
As we move forward, we do not presume that this discussion can be brief or easy. It requires us to look inward—to shine a light on things we would rather keep hidden from ourselves and from God. It demands the courage of honest testimony and sincere forgiveness. It will rely on clergy all over this nation who are willing to step up, speak out, and urge their congregations to begin community conversations about racial unity.
As citizens of the United States of America, we believe this is in our common interest. As citizens of the Kingdom of God, we know it to be our duty.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is president of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination. Dr. Jerry Young is president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, the nation’s largest predominantly African-American denomination.
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.